


Waiting for Angels

by SilverEclipse



Series: Elysium Isn't a Place on Earth [2]
Category: (여자)아이들 | (G)I-DLE
Genre: Extra, Friendship, Gen, Recovery, Supernatural - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-12
Updated: 2020-10-12
Packaged: 2021-03-08 03:48:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,020
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26965438
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SilverEclipse/pseuds/SilverEclipse
Summary: As far as Shuhua knows, she is the luckiest girl on the planet.She's got amazing friends around her. She has her family and two adorable puppies to welcome her when she goes home. She's the youngest owner of a successful cafe business in town.Not to mention, she nearly died but somehow made a complete recovery.The doctors would say it was a scientific anomaly and it was medically impossible to repeat. Shuhua would say that she has guardian angels watching over her.
Relationships: Implied future Mimin, but only if you squint - Relationship
Series: Elysium Isn't a Place on Earth [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1967800
Comments: 1
Kudos: 20





	Waiting for Angels

**Author's Note:**

> Surprise! Hello again. 
> 
> This was a random one shot I wrote after publishing the Elysium story because I got bored. I felt like I owed it to Shuhua to give her a voice and a chance to tell her story since I gave her a cameo in the main Elysium fic. 
> 
> This instalment is sort of an after-story as well as a side story, but it ties up some loose ends and links some references which were made in Searching for Elysium. Plus, once I get around to writing the prequel, this part could serve as an ending of sorts for the series. 
> 
> Thanks for reading~

If someone were to ask Yeh Shuhua what Angel Coffee meant to her, she would tell them that it was a dream come true. She wouldn’t have been lying.

Starting her own business at the age of 23 with no prior experience was a risky move. Almost every person who had studied business or economics would have advised against the move. However, considering that no one expected her to live past the age of 21, Shuhua would say that she’s way past taking risks.

When someone talked about miracles and supernatural intervention, they would usually get labelled as “crazy”. After the incident, if anything, Shuhua was even more convinced in the existence of the supernatural. She couldn't explain what she went through and she doubted that anyone would understand without having gone through the same experience.

The day she woke up in a hospital bed, tear tracks racing down her cheeks with a thundering heartbeat was also the day she decided to live for herself. The first thing she did was to ask how she was alive, which was exactly what the doctors had probably thought to themselves. She remembered feeling dazed; she couldn’t understand why her chest felt so heavy and tired. Her lungs seemed to struggle to push air in and out of her body. The nurse had told her that it was her body adjusting to being alive and functioning normally again.

Apparently, she had been in a coma for a startling amount of time and they were close to turning off her life support when she had mysteriously woken up. She remembered the feeling of being forced into her body somehow, such that even her own limbs felt foreign to her. For the first few minutes, she couldn’t move her finger without intense concentration. The nurses consoled her and told her it was normal for people who had woken from a coma. Yet, part of her wondered if she was really supposed to be alive, or if someone had made a deal with the devil.

Shuhua wasn’t an avid believer in the supernatural, but she could have sworn she dreamt of angels while she was asleep. One evening, she had told her grandmother about her suspicions and gotten chided for not being appreciative of her second chance at life. She had tried to explain herself but instead was faced with a long lecture. After a while, she simply bit her tongue and apologised. Her grandmother was ageing and she didn’t want to worry her, so she kept quiet and accepted the second helping of rice which had been mysteriously added to her bowl without her permission.

Since then, she’d kept her delusions to herself. Mostly.

Her new puppies didn't count. She had gotten them as a present after her initial recovery. They were her constant companions as she learned to live again. She told them everything, and she had no fear that they would spill her secrets to other people. Even though they ran about like unrestrained animals when she tried to bring them for walks, they were good to her and she loved them very much.

She also didn’t count Minnie. The older girl was one of her neighbours but they hadn’t been very close before she had gone into a coma. It was only during her recovery that the two of them reconnected and started spending more time together. She had dropped by unannounced with food, which was always a welcome sight.

Minnie had been one of her sole supporters when she had talked about starting a cafe business on her own. After much criticism and disapproval from her family, it was refreshing to hear nothing but considerations and ideas of how to make the business prosper from the older girl. Hence, with her support, Shuhua graduated and became one of the youngest business owners in their small town.

However, she couldn’t run a business while still going through rehabilitation. That was where Minnie and Miyeon came in. Miyeon was one of her seniors in school but she had gladly volunteered to help once Shuhua explained her idea. That was how the business started, with the three of them.

With Minnie as a barista and Miyeon running the counter, the cafe soon picked up popularity. The initial few months were hard. The two of them had vastly different methods of doing their jobs and it was the source of many clashes of opinion. There was not a day that went by without them bickering, but Shuhua had grown used to their style of flirting. She had called them out once while they were on break, and continued to call them out every now and then, despite their constant denials and assertions that they didn’t get along. The line between love and hate was rather thin after all.

Despite everything, Shuhua really couldn’t think of a better duo to help her with the day to day running of the cafe.

Even before its conception, Shuhua had insisted on the name “Angel Coffee”. It was striking and easy to remember. She had kept the concept simple so that anyone would feel welcome to walk in on a hot summer day. Their town was small and people often either chose to sit in cafes or lounge around in an area which faced the sea. Hence, Angel Coffee neatly gave them the option of doing both in one place.

During her first promotional write up, the interviewer had commented on the unique aspect of her cafe. Namely, the “Angel fund” which was an option for customers to purchase as an add-on to their coffee. Proceeds would be put in a fund which counted as coffee cups that were given to people who didn’t have enough money to pay for their own. Poverty wasn’t a new thing in the city, but the problem had gone ignored by the government for longer than necessary. While many people wanted to do community service overseas, it was Shuhua’s opinion that kindness should be a part of everyday life. Even the simplest act of buying coffee could make a difference to someone else’s life.

Angel Coffee wasn’t just a name. It was a message.

The coffee itself was inexpensive. Hence, paying a little extra to cover the cost of someone else’s coffee wasn’t something that most customers would get offended by.

In fact, there were some regulars who often came by to donate instead of purchase a cup for themselves. Yet, Shuhua always offered them a drink on the house or a slice of cake as a form of gratitude.

As a result, news of her cafe spread around town and there was almost never a quiet day for them. People already knew who she was, ever since her miraculous recovery made headlines. It was a small town. Any news could be big news. For a long time, people were stumped on how her body had managed to heal so fast. There hadn’t been any signs of medical intervention either, so most people concluded that she was just very lucky. Shuhua had learned to just laugh and agree that she had been fortunate to make it out alive.

As they got busier, they started reaching out and getting part-timers to help out. The cafe was doing well, so it wasn’t as though they couldn’t afford the extra sets of hands. Sorn was Minnie’s friend and she often brought her own groups of friends to the cafe to support them. Hence, it didn’t come as a surprise when she was the first Minnie contacted to help out. Sorn being Sorn, dragged one of her friends to join her on her shift. That was how Shuhua met Elkie, and ended up befriending the other girl.

For Yeh Shuhua, the cafe was the place of new beginnings and constant life.

Sometimes the cafe would be filled to the brim with people waiting for seats even though all the tables were occupied. Well, almost all of them.

If a customer asked Shuhua about the single table at the corner of the cafe, the young owner would tell them that it was already occupied. There was never anybody sitting on either of the two seats around the table, but it was always reserved. Without fail, there was always a cup of coffee left on the table. It looked as though someone had gone to the restroom and would be coming back for it.

Only the other staff members would be privy to the fact that the table was to remain empty.

Minnie had asked her about it once, when the cafe wasn’t meeting some of its costs. She had been concerned that it was a waste of resources. However, Shuhua stubbornly insisted on continuing the tradition. She had unshakeable faith that the cafe would pull through.

“Who is it for?” Minnie had asked her while they were preparing for service. “You insist on reserving that one table for someone that never shows up.”

Of course, her concern was warranted. Minnie was looking out for her and her comment didn’t come from a place of judgment. However, Shuhua couldn’t possibly explain everything in detail. It would have sounded like a fantastical delusion. To some extent, it was.

Even though she woke up every morning like clockwork, there had been a period of time where she didn’t wake up. During those days and nights, all she did was dream. Her dreams were vivid and strange but they seemed so real. At times, she wondered if she really did wake up, or whether she had fallen asleep after being left alone.

Sometimes she closed her eyes and dreamed of angels. There were two of them, she knew. They appeared in front of her, guarding her and protecting her from anything that could possibly harm her.

She could never see their faces clearly. Part of her felt like she wasn’t supposed to. There were instances where she thought she could hear their voices in the cafe, but she was always disappointed.

If she were to repeat a word of it to anyone else, they would have diagnosed her as schizophrenic and sent her to the mental ward. So, she simply plastered a smile on her face and explained that the coffee and empty table were symbolic of buying coffee for a stranger. It fit her idea coincidentally.

However, Minnie wasn’t just “anyone”. She was one of her closest friends. Even if she didn't believe her, her story would be safe with her.

The tale she recounted to Minnie that night was a watered down version but it was as close to the truth as she dared to go. She did meet two angels who guarded her dreams while she was asleep. Angels who she believed were still watching over and protecting her as she lived her life. She may not be able to see them but it didn't mean they weren’t there.

So she left the coffee out every day in case they were to drop by and pay her a visit. How she had decided on iced americano as the drink of choice, she didn't know. However, it somehow felt right.

The older girl had gaped at her for a long moment before she burst out laughing.

“I love the story Shu. It’s perfect for the next article written about your cafe. The customers would love it!”

Shuhua tilted her head. She debated correcting her friend but settled for laughing along with her.

She didn’t mind that Minnie couldn’t completely believe her. Minnie wanted an answer, which she had delivered. Whether she chose to believe it, was her decision.

The older girl changed the subject soon after that, choosing to describe a funny story that happened in the kitchen earlier that evening. Shuhua listened and nodded at the appropriate junctures.

No one else had to know that some nights, when she did the cleaning up, she‘d find the iced americano that she left out in the morning still cold. On those nights, she could be alone but she never felt lonely.

Angels were real and no one could convince her otherwise.


End file.
